NEW BEDFORD — A Taylor Street, New Bedford property poses a predicament for its elderly residents: The house is in the city and the street is in Dartmouth, and neither municipality feels inclined to plow in the event of a storm.

NATALIE SHERMAN

NEW BEDFORD — Alberto and Maria Fernandes are hoping for a light winter.

For more than 20 years, they have lived in no-man's land: in a home located in New Bedford but on a street located in Dartmouth that was never formally incorporated into the town.

As a result, neither community plows the road when it snows.

"It's a problem," said Maria Fernandes, 76. "One year, we stayed six days in the house because we couldn't get out."

Now, the couple — she is a former fish packer and he is a former "codman" — is looking to New Bedford where they pay property taxes for help, she said.

"We pay our taxes but we don't have anything for our money," she said.

Ron Labelle, New Bedford's commissioner of public infrastructure, said the city provides water services — which are already regional — to the street but nothing else. The Fernandes' concerns should be directed to Dartmouth, he said.

Dartmouth only provides services to streets that conform to town standards and are formally accepted by the town — and Taylor Street, where the Fernandes live, is not, said David Hickox, the director of public works. Property owners are responsible for bringing the road into compliance, he said.

"The town of Dartmouth does not go into private areas and expend public funds to bring them up to standard," he said, adding "There are many private roads in town with the same concerns."

When Fernandes and her husband built their Taylor Street home, just off Cove Street, in 1987, there were already three homes there, built in 1925, 1971 and 1973, said New Bedford assessor Peter Barney.

The couple, who speak Portuguese and limited English, didn't understand what it meant to build on an unaccepted street, Fernandes said. Now, they can't afford to pay for upgrading the road, a mix of cracked concrete and gravel that looks "like a river" when it rains, she said.

At-Large Councilor David Alves, who was contacted by the couple and raised the issue at a City Council meeting last week, said he is hoping the city will sign a mutual agreement with Dartmouth so that the Fernandes — and the three other houses on the street — can at least count on snow plowing services.

"They pay taxes but they're not getting any substantial benefits for their taxes and that's not fair," he said. "I feel so bad. ... What I'm trying to do is put it on the table and see what we can do."